Thread: Need some advice / direction to begin my project

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Take a bazillion pictures of it before you remove anything. Shoot from every angle, every bolt, every bracket, etc, so you know how things go back together. We have taken a laptop to the shop and used the pictures we took to help us remember how the stuff we took off 6 months ago were originally supposed to go. I can't stress enough that these pictures and any drawing and subsequent pictures you take as things come off will be a lifesaver to you down the road.

Also buy a new college type notebook and begin a build book of all the parts you buy, with part numbers. Make a page for engine, one for front suspension, one for rear suspension, etc. 5 years from now when you need a new ball joint you will have the part number written down right there so you don't have to guess. Also, keep all your receipts, it sure helps should you decide to sell the car later.........new buyers love this stuff. As part of the build book I like to put pages labeled "Things to do 2/1/11" There I list what I need to do to finish up one aspect of the build, like the front suspension. As I finish those individual tasks I draw a line through them.........it is like a little reward at the end of the work day and lets me see what progress I have made, and what is left yet to do.

Don

I agree with starting the book Don except instead of "things to do 2/1/2011" it seems more like "lets see how many weeks/months it takes me to finish this page". My new response when someone asks me how my day on the car went is "I got more done than if I hadn't worked on it.." . Which is true...everytime I come across a problem and go backwards for the day I likely would have had to encounter that set back eventually . The book does help organize things to do and buy, research, etc.

Yeah, I just put the date on there to show what day I wrote that page. Then I can look back 6 months later and see I didn't get a darned thing done.

Don

After reading those last posts I'm not feeling very encouraged!

Does my thought process seem correct though?

I found a book at the library "The Complete Guide To Auto Body Repair" by Dennis Parks. It seems to have some good info in it.

I'm fairly new to the hobby, but I've learned a few things along the way. If you are planning a full restoration then yes, I would strip the car down to a bare shell leaving it so you can roll it around. Have it blasted then use epoxy primer. Once you know what you have left start on the major body work and panel replacement, but I wouldn't finish the body work and definately wouldn't paint it until you get everything sorted out and mocked up. You don't want to be fumbling around the car with fresh paint. Basically build the car then take it back apart for final body work and paint . You also don't want to end up with a torn apart car with fresh paint then take a break for finacial reasons and just have to let it sit. If you wait on paint and interior you can have fun driving a little and work out the bugs before tearing it back down for paint.

As you get sick of doing body work you can switch to cleaning up old suspension parts or ordering and assembling new ones, building the engine, or doing any one of plenty of odds and ends, etc.